The banking giant said Thailand's CP Group, owned by billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, had paid $7.4bn (£4.7bn) in cash for the second tranche of HSBC's shares in Chinese insurer Ping An, rounding off the £5.8bn transaction.

The completion of the sale - HSBC's largest since 1995 - will quell fears the deal would be blocked by regulators concerned about funding for the bid.

Speculation the transaction would collapse came in the wake of Chinese media reports saying that state-owned China Development Bank was reconsidering its decision to provide loans to the Thai group.

HSBC is set to make a £1.6bn post-tax profit on the deal, which forms a major part of the bank's goal of selling off non-core businesses as part of a recovery plan launched in the wake of the financial crisis.

The lender will see its core-one tier capital ratio boosted by 0.5pc as a result of the deal.